William Newman III, 95, died on Dec. 10, 2011, at the Hospice House of Vero Beach.
Newman was born in Jacksonville, Ill., in 1916.
Growing up in Webster Groves, Mo., he was president of his high school and a star high jumper.
Newman holds degrees from Westminster College in Fulton Missouri, The University of Chicago and Washington University Law School.
He won many honors in law school, one of which was winning the Moot Court.
Following law school, he went directly into the FBI as a special agent and served in the bureau for 11 years.
For a brief period of time he served as a special assistant to J. Edgar Hoover, a man that he greatly admired.
He had a successful career in business but it was his involvement in a program of personal growth dynamics, started by his brother Jim, that gave him the most satisfaction.
He was married for 66 years to Mary Francis Higgins.
She preceded him in death.
Survivors include two daughters, Patricia Parsons, of Long Beach, Ind., and Susan Coffin, of Vero Beach, and Block Island, R.I.; five grandchildren: Peter Coffin, of Ridgfield, Conn., Jared Coffin, of Newport News, Va., Samantha Kohler, of Newtown, Conn., Lisa Wiland, of St. Louis, Mo., and Colby Parsons, of Denton, Texas; great grandchildren Ashley Coffin, Kennedy Coffin, William Coffin, Charles Coffin, Abigail Kohler, David Kohler, Charlotte Wiland, MacKenzie O’Keefe and Miles O’Keefe; and his fiancée, Boots Holden, of Vero Beach.
Contributions may be made to Hospice House of Vero Beach.
There will be a service at Holy Cross Church Friday Dec. 16, 2011, at 10 a.m.
